Anthony Tata’s Self-Serving Apologies Don’t Excuse Long, Thorough History of Bigotry

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, a diverse coalition of more than 50 civil rights, faith, education and labor groups have come out in opposition to the nomination of Anthony Tata for Under Secretary of Defense for Policy because of his long record of bigotry. Additionally, the North Carolina NAACP released a scathing statement of opposition documenting mismanagement, racial hostility, and efforts to resegregate schools when Tata was the schools superintendent of Wake County, NC. Spokespeople representing the national coalition and the North Carolina NAACP are available for interviews.

• Click here to read the national civil rights groups letter of opposition to his full record of bigotry. 
• Click here to read the North Carolina NAACP’s documentation of Tata’s record of racial hostility and mismanagement as schools superintendent in Wake County, NC.
• Click here for an email action targeting the Senate. 

“His racial insensitivity quickly became notorious,” wrote Reverend T. Anthony Spearman, President of the NAACP’s North Carolina State Conference, about Tata’s brief tenure in Wake County before he was fired. He was “a walking scandal” who “seemed to regard African American parents as ideological adversaries, rather than taxpayers invested in the quality of their Public Schools.”

The national groups letter to the Senate—led by Muslim Advocates, the NAACP, the American Federation of Teachers, the Center for Disability Rights and the SPLC Action Fund—draws on Tata’s deep record of bigotry, racial epithets, anti-Muslim and anti-Black hostility to declare him “one of the most openly and brazenly bigoted nominees in recent memory.”

• Tata has: Repeatedly attacked Black public figures with racial and religious epithets, including calling Congresswoman Maxine Waters a “race baiting racist” for her defense of Rodney King, a victim of police violence. He also invoked plantation slavery to criticize a Black news anchor.
• He has spread the false, anti-Black, anti-Muslim conspiracy theory that President Obama is a secret Muslim. 
• He has said that Islam is the “most oppressive violent religion I know of” and wrote books invoking “Islamic gang rape” of white women. 
• In addition to criticism of his efforts to resegregate schools as Wake County Superintendent, the groups also point to allegations of discrimination against Latino and disabled students. 

“All of our communities have been directly harmed by Mr. Tata’s words and actions,” stated the groups’ letter. “One simply cannot lead a diverse department while having such contempt for diverse people.”

Additional Resources:

• Action: Tell Congress to Reject the Nomination of Anthony Tata
• Muslim Advocates Urges Rejection of Defense Nominee: “Where Anthony Tata Goes, Bigotry and Discrimination Follow”

Muslim Advocates is a national civil rights organization working in the courts, in the halls of power and in communities to halt bigotry in its tracks. We ensure that American Muslims have a seat at the table with expert representation so that all Americans may live free from hate and discrimination. 

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